Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Siren Songs (27 page)

“That was the best drink of my life!”

Grandma didn't chide him. After what they'd been
through she might even have laughed. Sadly, they had no food to
offer, and they retreated back to their drink preparation station a
bit sheepishly. It must be a common question.

There were no chairs or benches on or near the
boat, so Grandma took a seat on the steps leading from the main deck
up to the poop deck. A large wooden wheel for steering the fake ship
was up there. Several young kids were already spinning it, their
spirits undaunted even in such a bleak world.

She seemed to relax amongst the youngsters.

Liam took a moment to pull Drew aside. “What
can you tell me about this place? Is it safe? Do you have zombies
here?”

“Ooooh, you call them zombies? We've been
calling them plaguers, but zombies sounds better even though they
aren't true zombies that come out of graves and stuff. I haven't seen
any of them since I got here. Plenty on the way, though.”

He visibly shuddered.

“Once I got here and set up my tent, they
told us everyone was responsible for security. They send us out in
small groups, so we can help each other if there are plaug—zombies.
That little guy who brought you here was carrying what most of us
are—basically a sharp stick. But we have an infinite supply of
them around here. Anyway, to answer your question, we haven't had any
zombies in camp, but from time to time you will hear some shooting or
young boys coming out of the woods crying after their team had to put
one down.”

Liam was reminded that he wasn't so far removed
from these boys. If things had been a little different, perhaps he
would be here at a campsite with Mom and Dad. But would that mean
Grandma would be dead in her house right now? Would Victoria still be
alive if she hadn't met him?

Ugg.

Using that expression, even inside his own head,
reminded him of Victoria's absence. A dark cloud passed over his
heart, putting a damper on his otherwise pleasant demeanor in front
of Drew. The other boy took this as an invitation to continue
talking.

“Yeah, I know how you feel. We all have that
look in our eyes. Like we're lost. I know I did for all those days
sitting inside our house waiting for things to improve. Of course
they only got worse. Some of our neighbors left early in the plague,
but most stuck it out until the end. We fought off looters, zombies,
and even a huge pack of wild dogs. But in the end, it was the stench
that drove us to abandon our house. Do you know what dead bodies
smell like? Our street was covered with them. The smell sticks to
you. Reminds you constantly not to forget it. Nothing would block it
either. My mom tried everything. We packed up what we could and drove
our car as far as we were able. That turned out to be about 100
yards. Once we got out of our neighborhood we realized this was far
bigger and worse than we imagined sitting inside the safety of our
home. We almost turned around, but the smell was with us even then.
So we got out and walked, trying to get to this place.”

“How did you do it? What route did you take?
I need to get Grandma to our house after we leave here.”

“Ahh, that's the thing. It was mostly at
night. Mom and Dad both had guns. Several times we stumbled on
zombies doing their thing...shot them of course. It took us a whole
night to get here. We don't live far. I guess we just got lucky.”

“Sounds like your dad knew what he was
doing.

“If you say so. You can ask him why Grandma
and Grandpa couldn't come with us.”

Liam was afraid to ask, as he had just left a
group of grandmas and grandpas...

“You mean he wouldn't let them come?”

“They said it was their decision, but I know
he talked to them. He never liked them.”

Liam had sympathy. There were plenty of people he
would like to leave behind if he ever got the chance. His algebra
teacher. That asshat Jeff Tuttle who gave him grief in study hall. He
had a list from his various track teams too. But when the carnage was
absolute and unforgiving, Liam didn't think he had it in him to turn
anyone away to their deaths. He just didn't think he would be able to
make that call.

What if it would save someone I loved?

He resolved to try to be strong if that situation
ever came up. So far he'd avoided any complicated life-or-death
choices. For a moment he had forgotten many of the choices he'd made
since leaving Grandma's house nearly a week ago. So many of those
choices were probably life or death, though they may not have seemed
like it at the time. Certainly Victoria was dead because of decisions
he'd made.

Neither of the boys was particularly happy, but
Drew seemed to be a glass-half-full sort of kid. He raised both their
spirits by admitting, “With Grandma and Grandpa on their own, I
figured it would only be right to help you with your grandma. At
least someone of their generation made it here to safety.”

Safety.

Liam didn't think that word meant what it used to.

5

Liam and Drew were chatting happily within
eyesight of Marty. They realized they both played the same video
game, so they had a lot of things to discuss about the adventures
they shared from inside that fictional universe. It helped distract
them from their own seemingly fictional woes.

They didn't notice a leader walk up to the boat
and extend two fingers, which is a Scout sign to “shut the hell
up.” The two boys failed to notice everyone else had dropped to
silence while they continued talk and laugh. Someone tapped them on
the shoulder and pointed to the leader glaring at them with his arm
over his head.

Red-faced, they turned to give their full
attention.

“Hello, ladies and gents. Welcome to Camp
Hope. Yes, we've renamed this place for the duration of this event. I
hope you'll find it appropriate for what we've got going on here. Oh
yeah, my name is Troop Leader Lee. Like the general.”

A few snickers.

“You can call me Mr. Lee. My role is to
introduce you to this place and help you find a place to stay. I'll
assume many of you have camping equipment and supplies. Raise your
hands if you
don't
have a tent or any supplies.”

Several hands went up, maybe a third of the group,
including Liam's.

“We've noticed fewer and fewer people are
making it here with supplies. Don't worry. We know things are rough
on the outside, so just be thankful you made it here in one piece.”
Lee went through some checklists relating to the area, much of which
was important to Boy Scouts in general—preparedness,
sanitation, security, hygiene, hydration, and calorie counts. Liam
was interested in all of them, but the last was foremost on his mind.
He raised his hand.

He was soon called on by Lee. “Hello. I'm
Liam. Sorry about earlier. My grandma is over there, and she's 104
and could use a bite to eat. We've been in the woods all night.”

“That's a tough one, my friend.” He
looked at Marty as he spoke. “Ma'am, I'm sorry to say we don't
have much food here. Only what was brought by folks such as
yourselves. We're trying to organize some raiding parties to go out
and look for food and supplies, but it's been so dangerous none of
the leaders have been willing to let any of the kids go back out of
the valley.”

Marty merely nodded.

“For the rest of you, please assemble over
on the path there. I'll be with you once you're all together.”

Liam and Drew both got up to help Grandma again.
“Thanks, Drew. I can get her if you have places to be?”

“No sweat. I'm not doing anything important
right now. I want to see where they stick you. Otherwise I'll never
find you in this crowd.”

Liam was pleased to have a friend here.

He noticed Mr. Lee was stopping to talk to
stragglers while they were lifting Grandma. A couple with a small
baby. Another elderly woman. And then he arrived just as they were
moving Grandma off the boat. He was purposefully facing away from the
larger group.

“Hi, guys. Look, I couldn't give this out in
front of all those people, but I have a grain bar for your grandma.”

Marty tried to demur, but Liam accepted it for her
and promised she would get it.

“Scout's honor.”

“Good enough for me.”

Mr. Lee walked away, toward the group of new
recruits.

They didn't have to travel far.

“Y'all are the first group to get spots
inside the woods. We've run out of space on the flat, grassy part of
the valley, so we had some of the boys clear this flattish section of
woods so people could use it. We'll be placing new people in similar
redoubts around the outside of the whole camp. I guess we'll just
keep on spreading until we have a city again.” He laughed at
the joke, though no one appeared in the mood to laugh with him.

After spending the rest of the afternoon with Mr.
Lee and several of his assistants, the group was settled into a small
enclave of clear space among the large trees. They were joined on one
side with the main encampment—in fact they could still see the
central administration building. The other three sides were empty
woodlands as far as they could see in the hilly terrain. By pooling
resources, and shoving too many people into too few tents, they were
able to get everyone in the group into a tent they could call home.
Someone even volunteered a sleeping bag for Grandma, which prompted
her to immediately plop down in a small tent to rest.

“Don't leave without me,” she joked as
Liam zipped her tent flap to keep the bugs out.

Liam was standing right next to the tent,
marveling at their luck at having such a fine place to stay, at least
until they sorted how they were going to get home—when he heard
a familiar and terrifying sound far in the distance.

Buzz. Buzzzzz. Buzz.

Mr. Lee was banging in a tent stake for a nearby
tent when he stopped to listen. Soon everyone was stopped, cocking
their heads like a herd of nervous deer.

Buzzzzzzzz.

“It sounds kind of like a chainsaw.”

“No, it sounds like a bunch of hammers
hitting over and over.”

Liam could only admire the Scouts for being
problem solvers. One part of him felt he shouldn't make it known he
knew what the sound was, but another part was anxious to earn the
respect and trust of Mr. Lee. Deep down he also wanted to impress the
younger kids within earshot. So he spoke up.

“No, my friends. You're all wrong. It's a
gun. A lot like a fire-breathing dragon.”

Everyone was laughing except Liam.

Almost everyone.

Mr. Lee wasn't laughing, either.

“Liam, can I talk to you for a minute?
Alone?”

The buzzing of the Gatling gun had been going on
and off for the past couple minutes. It was still far away, but
definitely getting closer. The road from the highway to this camp lay
on the other side of the hill where Liam had come from, and it
intersected the beginning of this small valley system. The gun would
be heard while the MRAP was driving on that entrance road.

When the two were away from everyone else, Mr. Lee
spoke first. “I did some time in the military—sandbox
stuff—so I know the sound of guns like that. I just didn't
place it because it sounded so unusual stateside. Never thought I'd
live to see the day military rigs are here shooting stuff up.”

“Well, they're probably shooting zombies,
but I can't say for sure. I rode in one of those things yesterday and
they were shooting tons as we drove, and unless they were just
killing men and women at random, I'd say they were shooting zombies.
But from time to time we could hear gunshots pinging off the
exterior. So someone was shooting us, though I can't think of any
reason why. We eventually got trapped at a roadblock and we had to
get out while under fire—”

Liam felt himself tense up at the thought of all
the chaos and bullets flying by.

“—I managed to help Grandma out of the
MRAP and into a Humvee so we could escape but I'll admit I've never
been as scared in my whole life. That includes riding a train in the
dark with zombies lurking all around us.”

“Hmm. Sounds really dangerous for us if that
thing decides to come up this way. You were inside it you say? How'd
you manage that?”

“The people in that convoy might be CDC, or
they might be Homeland Security. They also might be some kind of
military unit. They captured my grandma—they brought me along
so I could support her. They took us to a medical camp over in Lone
Elk Park across the highway. They were running weird experiments, and
told me the camp was set up to help find a cure to the zombie
plague.”

“And you believed them?”

“No, sir. I didn't believe a word... Well,
there was one man, a colonel, who seemed to tell me the truth. Oh
yeah, back up, I almost forgot the most important part. They killed
my girlfriend in cold blood to convince us to go with them in the
first place.”

That thought forced his shoulders to slump
noticeably.

In return, Mr. Lee briefly put his hand on Liam's
shoulder. “OK, so they are super dangerous. Sounds like you did
everything you could to keep your grandma alive. Don't beat yourself
up.”

“Thanks, but there's something else.”

It made Liam feel marginally better to share his
story with the Scout leader, but he turned inward while considering
his next statement. Was Hayes looking specifically for
his
grandma? Hayes and his buddies hightailed it out of there the second
the warning sirens went off. But where did they go? Another camp?
Back to some central base? Did they go somewhere nearby and watch all
the old people walk right out the front gate? Would they know he and
Grandma survived at all?

Maybe
the old folks told them.